Beautiful Bruges

pictures. lots and lots of pictures of Bruges today. and a new yarn adventure at the bottom…

classic, beautiful and delicious with a lovely outdoor terrace in the morning sun Servaas van Mullem

beautiful house number signs everywhere, I just couldn't stop taking pictures of them

the best and fresh made Belgian waffles from Jantje Vanille ~ ice-cream and waffles

what touristic Bruges is all about: lace, chocolate, beer, chocolate, lace, beer and middle aged architecture, 

oh and did I say beer, lace and chocolate?

the weather was gorgeous so we walked around the city all weekend. the canals, the popping greens of Spring, the mild sun, good coffee and chocolate…. hmmmm, just perfect. beautiful old buildings everywhere you look, most of them maintained very well or under construction. I realized I was very much looking at the old houses with my 'Canadian eyes', who aren't used to seeing much of 1617 and 1485 painted on beautiful gables.

Madam Mim, where I shopped my yarn souvenirs

100% natural flax yarn, the cream one quite rough, the brown one very fine and very old. google images is my friend, when I type 'flax crochet' a gazillion lovely ideas pop up of what to make with it. I am excited to work with it, another lovely natural fibre is here to explore :). have you worked with it before? I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

below: the vintage lace pieces I found at Madam Mim are a lace edging for a handkerchief, a lace corner and diamond, probably both for inserts in handkerchiefs or little table cloths too.

and top right, a tiny little crochet piece. it is so delicate, unbelievable how fine it is. I put the business card next to it so you'll have an idea of sizing. I took the crochet piece with me for inspiration who knows I will come up one day with a square pattern derived from it.

Bruges, a city I can highly recommend for a day or two. also, it is very close to the beach. we didn't get to go this time, but all in all it makes for a beautiful weekend road trip for you Europeans :).

xo

Paris For a Day

last week was good, lots of pattern writing, fresh flowers, a little bit of crochet which I'll show you later this week. BUT. it seems last week basically consisted of one day, the day Maartje and I went to Paris!

I love it when a day seems to last so long, that yesterday feels like a week ago. you know what I mean? living that one day to the fullest, so much that your memory makes it into multiple days. perfection. the drive was easy, the weather was sunny, and without a plan we easily moved around Paris and happened to find the perfect-to-us places to shop, eat and drink. this trip just worked out really really well.

before I forget and linger on again in my Parisian daydreams, there was actually a real reason why we drove to Paris. I have told you here on the blog before how much I love the designs by Anna, the wonderful lady behind Rifle Paper Co. well, she launched a new stationery line with Garance Doré in Paris. the notebooks and fashion card you see in the picture are from the new collection, soon to hit stores worldwide. it is beautiful, and meeting Anna in person and actually talking to her about her lovely designs, work and company was just fabulous!

charged with loads of inspiration and macaron goodness I wish you a fabulous new week of Spring.

xo

Berlin

a weekend of Fall in Berlin. mostly wet, quite some wind too. loads of beautiful coloured leafs and a little bit of sunshine. quite a rough and tough city we found, a charm and style of it's own.

lots of delicious coffee and accompanying treats to warm up

a tour in the glass dome of the Reichstag, very interesting and beautiful with amazing Berlin view

a typical Berlin Sunday afternoon Flohmarkt, slowly getting in Christmas mood

Berlin. a very short visit. it turns out to be a huge city. not jut big. huge. my advice would definitely be to book at least 5 days. there's a great public transport network that never makes you wait more then 4 minutes for the next train, bus or subway. absolutely perfect. and you need it to travel between the nice areas, they're just too far apart to walk. you'll be walking a lot anyway, that's for sure.

with the help of Sandra, Holly and Nathalie we were able to make a selection and focus on a small part of the city: the areas Mitte and a bit of Prenzlauer Berg. 

a few spots I'd like to recommend based on our own visits:

* cute little shop and paper goodies at R.S.V.P. with an online shop too. I got the coloured stickers and a cute notebook there as you can see in the image above

* delicious coffee at The Barn and Lois, absolutely perfect carrot cake at The Barn

* great bookstore with a fabulous selection of international magazines do you read me?!

* dinner at restaurant Lokal where everything you eat and drink is provided by local suppliers and truly delicious

* all over Germany there are Muji shops. I saw their shop for the first time in New York and just love their simple Japanese designs and cute Christmas collection

I found two yarn shops. Loops was too far away for us to walk and we ran out of time to visit. knit knit was closed by the time we accidentally walked by it. can you believe it?! I did not visit one yarn shop in Berlin. aaaaah. definitely have to go back!

keep in mind most shops are closed on Sundays. cash is what you need in most places. get a public transport ticket and comfortable walking shoes to get around. most people speak English and are very helpful. if you'd like to visit the Reichstag dome, keep in mind registration in advance is required.

Enjoy!

Effiloché in Montréal

after the pictures of Montréal city yesterday, today it's all about the beautiful and welcoming shop Effiloché. those of you who have visited here before might recall pictures of yarn shops in different places I have visited. usually I go by what google gives me for 'yarn shops' and so in Montréal it was Effiloché. and boy did that shop not disappoint me. the warm welcome from the ladies who work there, the cozy set up of material and work spaces, it all makes you want to grab a fabric or yarn project and never leave. a great range of the popular Liberty fabrics, large fabric collections all organized by colour and brand, yarn of good quality organized by weight and colour... pure heaven! as I told the ladies in the shop, it is both a bad and a good thing I don't live close to this fabulous place. 

of course I couldn't leave without taking some material with me, to make a piece that will always remember me of the great weekend we had in Montréal. project ideas were racing through my mind with literally every fabric or yarn I saw. I ended up picking a liberty fabric with matching yarn, planned to become a scarf of some sort. we will see how that is going to turn out one day.